Mental Illness

The Age of Enlightenment

During the Age of Enlightenment, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, people with mental illnesses continued to suffer from poor treatment. For the most part, they were left to wander the countryside or committed to institutions. In either case, conditions were generally wretched. One mental hospital, the Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem in London, England, became notorious for its noisy, chaotic conditions and cruel treatment of patients (see Bedlam).

French physician Philippe Pinel supervises the unchaining of mentally ill patients in 1794 at La Salpetriere, a large hospital in Paris. Pinel believed in treating mentally ill people with compassion and patience, rather than with cruelty and violence. This painting, Pinel Frees the Insane from Their Chains, was completed by French artist Tony Robert-Fleury in 1876.

Physicians in the 18th and 19th centuries used crude devices to treat mental illness, none of which offered any real relief. The circulating swing, top left, was used to spin depressed patients at high speed. American physician Benjamin Rush devised the tranquilizing chair, top right, to calm people with mania. The crib, bottom, was widely used to restrain violent patients.

The Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem, a London mental hospital commonly known as Bedlam, sold admission tickets to the public in the 18th century, becoming a popular tourist attraction. In this engraving by English artist William Hogarth, part of his series A Rake’s Progress (1735), two women (seen in the background) tour the hospital, watching the mentally ill patients for their amusement. The hospital became notorious for its miserable conditions and cruel treatment of patients. (Age of Enlightenment)

Yet as the public’s awareness of such conditions grew, improvements in care and treatment began to appear. In 1789 Vincenzo Chiarugi, superintendent of a mental hospital in Florence, Italy, introduced hospital regulations that provided patients with high standards of hygiene, recreation and work opportunities, and minimal restraint. At nearly the same time, Jean-Baptiste Pussin, superintendent of a ward for “incurable” mental patients at La Bicetre hospital in Paris, France, forbade staff to beat patients and released patients from shackles.(Age of Enlightenment) Philippe Pinel continued these reforms upon becoming chief physician of La Bicetre’s ward for the mentally ill in 1793. Pinel began to keep case histories of patients and developed the concept of “moral treatment,” which involved treating patients with kindness and sensitivity, and without cruelty or violence. In 1796 a Quaker named William Tuke established the York Retreat in rural England, which became a model of compassionate care. The retreat enabled people with mental illnesses to rest peacefully, talk about their problems, and work. Eventually these humane techniques became widespread in Europe. (Age of Enlightenment)